Post-Game Sportsmanship

Today's blog was written by Natalie Schmid, a Play Like a Champion summer intern.  Natalie is a rising high school junior and a swimmer and soccer player on her school's team.

One of the toughest times to be a good sport is after a big game, whether you win or lose. Most of the time we think about bad sportsmanship coming from the opponent who lost the game because they might be angry about losing, but what we don’t think as much about it the winner’s sportsmanship. After a big game the winners are entitled to be happy and celebrate, just as the losers are bound to be a little upset, but there is a fine line as to how much is too much.

Often times, professional athletes do not set the best examples of sportsmanship, especially with after game interviews while the emotions running still high from the game or match, but this was not the case after this weekend's men’s final at Wimbledon. The final match this year at Wimbledon was between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.  After a hard-fought match Djokovic came out on top and Federer saw his would be 18^th Grand Slam title slip away.  The match was a classic, with amazing serves and volleys throughout. Following the match, though was when the sportsmanship shined. Djokovic was quoted saying, “Thank you for letting me win today” to Federer just after saying that, “It is by far the best quality tennis…that I’ve ever been a part of.” Djokovic does such a nice job of acknowledging how good his opponent is and doesn’t just gloat about his victory.  These comments were especially touching as int he past, Djokovic has been criticized for excessive celebration, so it's good to see that he realizes he is a role-model.  Federer also showed good sportsmanship from the losing end saying, “Winning or losing it’s always something special and something you’ll remember” and then later saying, “The disappointment of the match itself went pretty quickly.” Two professional athletes on such a large stage, there is no doubt that their sportsmanship will be an example for many young athletes.

Photo courtesy of New York Times, credit: Sang Tan

Sportsmanship can be one of the hardest things to master as a young athlete because for most people, playing sports is a way to compete. Competitiveness is a fun thing, especially in youth and high school sports because it makes the games so much more intense, but after being so intense it can be hard to snap back out of that mindset and remember it is just a game.  For the winners, after a hard fought match they are so proud of the victory that all they want to do is celebrate.  I know this feeling, but I also know how it feels to lose a tight match.  All athletes need to remember to practice sportsmanship like Djokovic and Federer did. They should recognize the hard fought game and celebrate the quality play that happened while still being happy about the victory. Whereas the losers have a right be disappointed that they didn’t win, but should also celebrate the game and the effort given just as Federer did. Games are, after all, meant to be fun.